This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Laval mayor resigns as escort agency text messages emerge

Laval Mayor Alexandre Duplessis is resigning his post after it was revealed he allegedly met with a prostitute two weeks ago and later complained to police that he was the victim of an extortion attempt

Laval interim mayor Alexandre Duplessis responds to news reports about an alleged incident involving a prostitute, saying "‘I never received anything of a sexual nature." (Paul Chiasson / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

MONTREAL—After months of corruption allegations worthy of a Third World dictatorship, the Quebec suburb of Laval has been hit with a sex scandal reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s White House — one that has led to the resignation of interim mayor Alexandre Duplessis.

It is the second time in less than a year that the province’s third-largest city has seen its mayor resign.

In November 2012, Gilles Vaillancourt gave up his post after a series of police raids resulted last month in criminal corruption and gangsterism charges over a municipal bid-rigging scheme.

Duplessis, the 42-year-old married father of two, was the subject of salacious reports Thursday that he had complained about an alleged extortion attempt against him by a prostitute and her driver after an encounter on June 14 at his chalet in the Laurentians.

He called a news conference Friday morning to say that he was the victim of menacing messages by two individuals, but denied that he “received anything of a sexual nature” related to the incident.

Article Continued Below

“I will continue in my role as mayor. I will continue to be at the service of the citizens. I will not resign because of threats of extortion,” he said at the time.

In short, an explosive interview broadcast on TVA with the escort’s boss and the revelation that she had exchanged 110 text messages with Duplessis — all of them now in the hands of the police.

“He said he didn’t request any sexual favours. That was the most incriminating point, I believe,” the woman said.

The text-message exchanges, which were provided to the broadcaster, reportedly included the mayor’s initial request for service on June 14 as well as photographs of the escort who would be meeting him.

“He asked if he could wear women’s underwear, if white wine would be appropriate — to drink white wine. These are the things that he asked for,” the woman told TVA. “He wanted to spend a night as if it were among girlfriends.”

The encounter reportedly fell apart after the escort and her female driver got lost on the way to the chalet, about 100 kilometres north of Montreal.

Once at the chalet, there was a misunderstanding about services to be rendered before Duplessis cancelled the encounter, the owner of the escort agency told TVA. Duplessis subsequently refused to pay the minimum hourly rate of $160, she said.

Various reports said that the alleged extortion began after the escort and driver realized that their troublesome customer was the mayor of Laval. Montreal’s La Presse reported that Duplessis complained to police after having been approached three times for increasingly large sums of money to buy their silence.

On Friday morning, Duplessis refused to comment on the details of the incident, citing the ongoing police investigation.

“It’s for that reason I won’t comment on everything that was said in the media,” he said.

The meeting with the escort occurred just two weeks after the Quebec government placed Laval under trusteeship, a decision taken after Vaillancourt’s arrest along with 36 other people including two bureaucrats and employees of construction, engineering and legal firms who did business in Laval.

In the days that followed the arrest, testimony at the Charbonneau corruption inquiry named Duplessis and other city councillors as those who knowingly breached political financing laws by accepting cash payments from entrepreneurs and donating the money in their name to their own political party.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com